airplane

Examples

• A1

  We took a plane from London to Barcelona because it was much faster than taking the train, and the ticket prices were similar once we added up the cost of accommodation during a long train journey.

• A1

  The children ran to the window to watch the plane take off and followed it with their eyes until it disappeared into the clouds high above the airport.

• A2

  The flight was delayed by two hours because a technical problem with the plane needed to be checked by engineers before the aircraft was cleared for departure, which caused frustration among the passengers waiting in the terminal.

• A2

  In geometry, a plane is a flat two-dimensional surface that extends infinitely in all directions, and many geometric theorems describe the properties of shapes and figures that lie within a single plane.

• B1

  The physics of flight — how an airplane produces the lift needed to overcome gravity and stay airborne — is often explained through Bernoulli's principle of pressure differences, though the actual aerodynamics of lift generation involves a more complex interaction of pressure differences, angle of attack, and the circulation of air around the wing that Bernoulli's principle alone does not fully capture.

• B1

  Plane geometry — the study of geometric figures in a flat two-dimensional surface — was systematically developed by ancient Greek mathematicians and codified by Euclid in his Elements around 300 BCE, establishing an axiomatic approach to mathematics that influenced scientific and philosophical thought for over two thousand years and whose logical structure remained the model for rigorous proof in mathematics until the nineteenth century.

• B2

  The aviation industry accounts for a significant and growing share of global carbon emissions — approximately 2.5% of total CO₂ emissions, rising to around 3.5% when the additional warming effects of contrail cirrus and other high-altitude emissions are included — making aviation a particularly challenging sector to decarbonise given the fundamental energy density requirements of long-haul flight and the limited prospects for near-term electrification or hydrogen-powered alternatives.

• B2

  The concept of the "inclined plane" — one of the classical simple machines — illustrates how applied force and distance traded off against each other: while more force is required to lift a heavy object straight up, the same work can be accomplished by pushing it up a longer inclined surface with less force at each moment, the mechanical advantage gained by using the slope compensating for the greater distance traveled, a principle exploited in ramps, staircases, wedges, and screws.